Chasing SEO Success in 2020

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Feb 21, 2020 / by
Chasing SEO Success in 2020

The shifting sands of SEO are notorious for a reason – things rarely stay still for very long and marketers are constantly being caught with their metaphorical pants down as a result. The same optimisation techniques that were everyone’s go-to just a few years ago are now completely useless, as Google continues to grow smarter.

So, now that 2020 is fully underway (we’re almost halfway through the second month already, if you can believe it), we thought it was about time to take stock of the SEO scene of the twenties and focus on what you should be doing to chase SEO success in 2020 and beyond.

Be the brand you want to see in the world

Google isn’t just ranking pages anymore; it’s ranking brands. That means your wider brand and content marketing campaigns should be as integral to your SEO success. Because no matter how good your content is or how many quality backlinks you manage to blag, consumers will still be more likely to click on brands that they have heard of, even if they might be further down on the list.

It all boils down to trust. If a consumer has heard of a brand they are more likely to trust it. So, if you think you‘re doing everything right but still achieving lacklustre results with your SEO, maybe it’s your overall brand that needs some TLC?

Be more visual

Visual search might have been simmering away in the background for a while now but it looks poised to truly take off in a big way this year. Google Lens has already been used over a billion times since launch and around 36% of US users have already used visual search at least once. It might be a technology still in its infancy, but as it becomes more attuned to our habits and people start to understand how it works, we believe it will become mainstream within the next few years.

So, make sure you’re starting to think about optimising for visual search today rather than tomorrow.

Be smarter with your featured snippets

SEMRush found that only around 12% of searches have featured snippets. This is quite surprising given that snippets are actually placed above the top results on Google.

Fittingly, there’s lots of wiggle room for you to incorporate ‘snippable’ content into your site. Keep it short, (under 60 words) engaging and keyword-heavy (but not saturated) and don’t forget to use tables and lists when they make sense.

Be aware of the big boys

If you want to understand what you’re doing wrong with your SEO campaign then the answer is often found on page one.

What is it that the top search results are doing that you’re not? It’s remarkably easy to use SEO tools to track the tricks of your competitors and reverse-engineer them. All it requires is a keen eye and a lot of trial and error.

Be the authority

Finally, if SEOs agree on one thing (rare though this might be) it’s that domain authority will continue to play a major part in ranking in 2020.

However, how you actually earn this authority has changed markedly in recent years. Links are, of course, still an important piece of the puzzle but now being the authority is more about building up reserves of amazing content and a general foundation of strength and trustworthiness. Focus on relevant, interesting content that is well within your specific field of expertise indenture your site is clean of any dead links or errors.

It all comes back to building the brand. Because, ultimately, your brand really is everything, especially when it comes to SEO in 2020.